Hey, so I heard about this game and it's hardcoreness (lol), I'm kind of attracted to the whole space thing but I'm nut sure if it's right for me, so feel free and please do answer my questions.

1. Is it a whole galaxy? Is there lots of planets, stars, etc. to explore? In essence, could you just find a random planet and land on it and explore? If so how would you go about doing that (read 2nd question please)? 

2. Are you a person in this game, or are you summarized with a ship? For example, if you land somewhere could you get out and see yourself in 3rd or 1st person?

3. Full loot?

4. How does the whole expansion thing work? Obviously I'd like to play the most updated EVE with good graphics and such, would I just need to download the latest expansion? Apocryhpia or something. And if I did would I miss out on the core EVE game, or is it available in the expansion? 

Sorry if the questions are noobish. Anyway thanks to everyone who answers. After playing Mass Effect I kind of thing this is like it but in a MMO package...at least that's what I'm hoping for.

I'm not an expert, but here it goes:

1) The galaxy is divided up in systems, where you can port between the using jumpgates. You can explore the systems, but you cannot land on the planets (see answer no. 2).

2) You are a ship with an portrait. So, no character like other mmo's.

3) You loose your ship and equipment when you get killed.

4) Expansion is just free large updates. So, no need to worry about that. Just enjoy em :)

There is no planetary exploration, but the game world is HUGE.  It is a single server, which has acheived over 52,000 people on it at the same time.

http://dl.eve-files.com/media/corp/Verite/influence.png

That is the game's map (the colored areas indicate space that is controlled by player corporations).

As of now, you are your ship.  You have a portrait that you create that people view when targetting you.  This year, however, EVE's Ambulation project will be released.  This consists of walking in stations, owning stores in stations, new crafting experiences, and a ton of corporation related features.  So, you -will- eventually have an actual avatar if that's an issue for you.

There is technically full loot.  It's more like partial loot, because the person dying loses everything, but the person who killed them only gets a portion of the things they had.  Some things are destroyed when you die, and other things stay behind to be looted.  When you die, you lose your ship.  There is insurance however to lessen the blow.  You can usually cover the cost of the ship, but not the modules fitted on it.  This makes death mean something.  You also can get pod killed, which means you respawn with however many skillpoints your clone had you insured for.  If you forget to update your clone, you CAN lose skillpoints, but this doesn't happen often if you're careful.  In fact, people who don't involve themselves in the PvP of the game can sometimes go their whole game life without getting pod killed.

EVE expansions are free, and required.  They do this so that they don't have to worry about people not having the content.  This way, everyone has the content after every expansion, and they don't have to block access to things like most other games.

I no longer play EvE online, but I think I can do a pretty good job at answering these questions:

1)  Yes, it is a whole galaxy (really a universe), and there are indeed planets, moons, and even "deadpspace pockets" to explore.  However you can NOT land on any of the above... you can simply fly your ship from solar system to solar system, and between asteroid belts, and of course space stations.  You can't land anywhere though... you dock your ship with space stations, and that's about it.

2)  You are only a ship.  No actual "person" (avatar) except a portrait of yourself that you create when you create your character.  CCP is working on a future project called "ambulation" which will allow you to get out of your ship and walk around (inside of space stations only, to my knowledge).  That's still a future release though, and they haven't said much about when it will be coming.  When in your "ambulation/avatar" mode, you won't be able to actually fight other characters.  Just walk around and see the interiors of stations - probably mini-games, etc. will be avaialble, but it's too soon to tell.

3)  Partial loot.  If you kill another player, lots of their stuff will get blown up in the destuction of their ship (including the ship itself).  However some fittings (mostly random) and whatever was in their cargo hold can be fully looted.  The person you kill basically loses everything they had on them at the time.  It's a nasty world out there!

4)  Expansions have historically all been 100% free.  Once you buy the game initially, you only pay a monthly fee and that's it.  There has never been a paid expansion.  When an expansion does come out, you just download and apply a big patch, and then you're off and playing again...

Hopefully that helps!

1. It is a whole galaxy, although you can't land on planets. Yet. That may be an option later on, but right now the devs are focusing on introducing the ability to walk in stations, and are working on updating the planet graphics.

2. As of right now you are represented as a ship and a small picture of your character. As I mentioned in the first answer, the devs are currently developing a feature where you can get out of your ship. This may be realeased late this year or early next, but at some point, you will have the option to create and use a 3d avatar as your character.

3. Full loot is available! As is salvaging, which can score you some nice extra isk (in game currency).

4. If you download the trial, you'd be downloading the whole game, including Apocrypha. What you download is the most current iteration of the game, and included in that would be all previous expansion packs and the orginial game. Oh and game expansions are free which is pretty sweet (just thought I might add that in).

Hm alright thanks might give it a go.

Just wondering, what are the planets and moons for if you can't land on them? Can you just click on them and find a  resource or something? Or are they there for decoration?

Originally posted by D3lit3

Hm alright thanks might give it a go.

 

Just wondering, what are the planets and moons for if you can't land on them? Can you just click on them and find a  resource or something? Or are they there for decoration?

For now, just decoration, but CCP's plans are that players will be able to interact with and most likely land on planets after ambulation has been released. In fact ambulation is essentially the groundwork for planetary interaction.

Originally posted by D3lit3

Hm alright thanks might give it a go.

 

Just wondering, what are the planets and moons for if you can't land on them? Can you just click on them and find a  resource or something? Or are they there for decoration?

Planets are there because there are planets in space.  The moons in low security and null security space can be harvested for resources with player owned starbases.

CCP has never been terribly concerned with realism in the game- the physics in the game are just silly, but if they were more realistic controlling your ship would be a potential NIGHTMARE (ever play independence war?).  The solar system in environments are pretty cool though.  I actually have a unit conversion application on my iPhone that converts AU to kilometers and I use it frequently in the game : )

Moons are also there, so you can put up Player Owned Stations (POSs).

When Eve released there were 55,000 star systems, each with planets, moons and astroid blets.

I do not if this has now been increased since the introduction of Wormholes.

Originally posted by VultureSkull

When Eve released there were 55,000 star systems, each with planets, moons and astroid blets.

I do not if this has now been increased since the introduction of Wormholes.

This was mentioned in one of the devblogs from the t3ch team at ccp

wormholes added new systems to the game

cant remeber if it was around 2k or 20k tho :p